


Night and Day

by BlurbWriting



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 11:29:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17641949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlurbWriting/pseuds/BlurbWriting
Summary: Jughead and Veronica should've been friends from the beginning





	Night and Day

 

_i am a heavy burden to be with and i'm worried that eventually your arms will become too weak and you'll drop me_

 

No one knew how their friendship came to pass. The Southside weirdo who spent too much time hanging around the Twilight Drive-In, with a ragged beanie always atop his head; and the raven-haired New Yorker girl. You would've thought that the ice in her eyes matched her words, but more often than not, they were warm. 

It wasn't a gradual thing, no build-up to their dynamic. Veronica Lodge didn't even go a week before she was seen by his side. Whether it was hanging out at Pop's Chock'Lit Shoppe or the school cafeteria. Jones himself even seemed perturbed by her presence. It was hard to question why Lodge sought out what she did, however. After enough time had past, no one questioned the duo no more than why the Blossom Twins were as close as they are.

 ( "Is Cheryl.. you know.. a brother fucker?" Asked a naive cheerleader before shortly getting kicked off the Vixens. )

-

"Can you please not invite Albert Fish to our fine dining this evening?" Veronica placed her glasses in her white Louis Vuitton clutch, more expensive than the hospital bills it took to get Jug into this world. He shakes his head at her. 

"But I thought you wanted to get to  _know_ me, Veronica." Jughead said accusingly, but they both knew he was done trying to get rid of her. Despite the gruesomeness of most cold cases he tells her, she's hardly one to flinch at his words.   


She squints, an attempt to mirror his expression. "Are you saying you enjoy pain through a needled paddle?" She clicks her teeth then, leaning back into the booth. "I didn't peg you for a masochist, Juggy." 

And there it was. Jughead could never  _quite_ pin what he liked about a rich girl from a big city. But she had a lot more bite than she seemed; wit that matched his own. 

Leaning back, he mushes some fries into ketchup, shoving it in his mouth before he can see Veronica's look of disgust. The salt on his fingers is too good not to lick off, and he replies after he swallows: "I'm merely fascinated by the cruelty of others. Human's are driven by empathy, you know, and cold-blooded murder really hits my sweet tooth." 

It's the writer within talking. Even a true crime junkie like him gets chilled when something truly dark happens. It's one thing to read and tell horror stories, but to experience one, have one in the live present day; it's too shuddering of a thought. 

"Well," Veronica says, slurping at her shake like the true lady she is. "Too bad there's nothing like that in Riverdale for you." 

He inclines his head, giving in. "Too bad indeed." 

He doesn't bring Albert Fish up again. 

- 

Even though they spend nearly every second together, Veronica's definitely made her rounds as a social butterfly. Another day and night difference between them. 

"You want me to do  _what?"_ Jughead hisses into the phone, a 2012 Blackberry because he wouldn't let Veronica buy him any other brand.  _It's criminal that you don't have phone._ She had said, an unpleasant reminder that she ate and shit diamonds for breakfast while he scrounged for oatmeal packets in the teachers lounge. 

Her sigh into the phone is petty, something she was taught at her stupid elite school, probably. He knows Veronica's got next to nothing now, compared to before.  _She's humbled now._ But Jughead hates people. She  _knows_ this. He doesn't know why she demands such a high price for their friendship  _she_ made. 

"It's pretty simple Juggy," She says  _Juggy_ like it'll sweeten him up. It won't. "All you have to do is join me, and your old friend Archie, and my new friend Betty, and watch some movies with us." 

It's a lot more than simple. He and Archie were old friends; were. There was a past tense Veronica didn't understand, and he didn't want to unload the issues he had with Betty Cooper. If he thought Veronica was his opposite, Betty shown like an interrogation lamp in his face. Bright and cheery and perfect. Even without being a River Vixen. 

But it was becoming a lot harder saying no to Veronica. In spite of his better, edgy judgment, he  _liked_ her company. He didn't want to lose what they had because, well, he was a loser. Even if he had to attend a dance for the stupid girl, he would. It would be better than letting her down. 

He can hear her call his name through the phone while he thinks, and decides that he can spend an awkward night watching shitty movies. He makes sure to sigh just as condescending back to her, though, before he agrees. 

-

Veronica knows Jughead would be dragging his feet to come over, but she thinks he'll walk faster if she adds  _Scream_ or  _Zodiac_ to the queue of movies. Betty shows up early, even though she was the most skeptical about the invite. Veronica sees who she wants to be in her. She's never been good at being kind, or selfless, or even just being herself. 

"I hope you don't mind, I invited Kevin along." There's a hesitancy in her hands as she gestures to the Sheriff's son trailing behind her. 

Selfless, kind. 

Veronica turns on a smile and waves them in. "Come on in. Everyone's welcome! Even that red devil who thinks she runs the school." Kevin is the only one who laughs at this, confident even as he takes in the wool and silk rugs and sparkling chandeliers. 

She's never felt ashamed for the wealth she was born into, but something pricks at the back of her neck when Betty mouths 'wow' at Kevin. 

It's not long before Jughead and eventually, Archie, show up. Kevin mainly texts as they all settle into her living room. Being taught to be a good hostess, she has popcorn and licorice galore for them to pick at, even having Smither's call for Pop's shakes once they make it through  _Sixteen Candles._

There's not much for talking, however she notices the relaxed shoulders as they scroll through Netflix looking for another binge. Jughead even takes his jacket off as the heat kicks into the room. 

"I didn't know you had a thing for thrillers." Archie notes as they pass the  _Recently Watched_ section again. 

Jughead mumbles in return. "Those are all me." He ignores the three heads swiveled his way, and Veronica laughs in turn. 

"I did enjoy that Stephen King based one." She comments, the confusion growing in the room. There's a smile from Jug in return, and she knows he's doing okay. 

"So," Kevin starts, mouth gaping like a fish. "How close are you guys?" 

It's a question she doesn't know how to answer. She doesn't know if she even has the answer. Being Jughead's friend is easy, no matter how broody he is under that crowned beanie and glare. But she knows he holds a lot back, out of insecurity or privateness, or just not wanting her to know. 

Before she can open her mouth, Jughead turns to Kevin and says. "We're best friends." 

There's not a hint of joking in his voice, and she does her best to act like she knew it all along. 

-

Sometimes being best friends made certain moments harder to have. 

"How could you just let them do that? How did, how—." Jughead runs his hands through his hair, and it's the closest she's seen to him hyperventilate. 

It's still frustrating, the way he speaks at her. Just because she's a Lodge, doesn't mean she's allowed to make decisions. "I didn't let them do anything! I didn't even know that my parents wanted to buy the drive-in. Besides Juggy, no one really comes to it anyway, do they?" 

His hand is shoving at her shoulder so fast she doesn't even register the shock until she's stumbling; the heel on her black pumps snaps off on her way back. On the ground, she looks up red faced at Jughead, who at least looks sorry. 

"Veronica, wait." He tries to help her up, but she smacks his hands away as she slides off her shoes, humiliated. 

Standing up, she looks him dead in the eye. "Fuck you Jughead. I don't care how angry you are at me, or my parents, but you  _don't_ get to lay a hand on me  _ever."_

The rest of the week is a debate on whether or not she stop talking to him all together. It isn't the first time she's been pushed, but it's the first time it's pulled at her heart. Veronica sits with Betty and Kevin, and joins the River Vixens, all while ignoring Jughead. He doesn't even try to apologize, his head down and eyes dead. She shouldn't care if he's back in his shell, a gloomy, lonely cloud all by himself. But she does. 

There isn't anything she does about it until she sees him sneaking out of the Janitors closet later. 

"What are you doing?"  She asks, shocked to see the worn pajama bottoms and wrinkled shirt he wears. 

When he doesn't answer, she asks again. "Are you sleeping in there?" 

It's uncomfortable, but he nods, and she remembers how desperate he was to save the drive in. How often he spoke of it like home. She won't let herself be pushed anymore, but. 

"I have an extra room at the PemBrooke." It's so soft coming out of her mouth that she doesn't know if she actually said it. But then he looks up at her, pleading for her forgiveness. 

"My hands will stay to themselves." He replies in his odd way, crossing his arms over his chest to prove a point, and she laughs at his weird wording. It's okay though, she knows she doesn't have to worry about him hurting her again. 

"Did Albert Fish sleep in a closet too?" She can't help herself, despite the tension still between them.

His laugh echoes the hallways, loud and beautiful as his face scrunches in delight. 

-

No one knows why Veronica Lodge chose Jones as her best friend, but it's more perplexing to realize that Jughead picked her too. Some could say she felt pity for him. A poor boy with a drunken father and a ghost of a mother. Others theorize they hold a shared secret, something that binds them to stick together. If you were to ask their other friends, they'd shrug and tell you it's a coincidence, a chance that they found something in common. 

But despite how night and day their contrasts are, everyone knows they bleed into another. Starry nights blend into sunny mornings. Dusk to dawn. They'll follow each other through the sky. 

(As friends, though. Jug would tell you. He's not really into the whole girl thing. Even if Veronica is pretty. And, ow, okay. Even if she's the prettiest girl out there.)

 

_your secrets are safe with me_

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> lol I ignored like the whole plot but you know? That's what Riverdale does anyway so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ hope you enjoyed, and I'll probably write more of their dynamic. But I also need to go to bed.


End file.
